1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of sharing a printer, and, more particularly, to a method of sharing a printer on a computer network.
2. Description of the Related Art.
It is known for a printer to be controlled by a host computer on a computer network. The essential purpose of all networks is to provide a common media for the orderly exchange of data between cooperating nodes. This host-based paradigm separates the image processing (fonts, images, etc.) from the physical printing mechanism such that the intensive raster image processing is performed on the host computer, leaving the printer's processor free to perform the task of physically placing the pixels on the media. The processing power required to physically place the pixels is significantly smaller than that required of printers that also interpret data streams. Thus, printers that do not have to interpret data streams have a lower cost.
Adding traditional protocol-based networking to a host based printer is cost prohibitive because the cost of the network electronics approaches or exceeds the cost of the complete printer electronics.
What is needed in the art is a low cost method of extending the host-based printing paradigm to host-based networking.